The Unicorn Hunters

· Random House
Ebook
400
Pages
Eligible
This book will become available on June 2, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.

About this ebook

Anne of Brittany was a child when her land was invaded, her castle besieged, and her royal father driven to his death.

Now Brittany is occupied by her enemies, her treasury empty, and only one thing is lacking to complete her realm’s subjugation: she is required, on pain of the sword, to marry the King of France.

But Anne cannot. She has promised her dead father that Brittany would never be conquered.

Defiantly, she betroths herself in secret to France’s greatest enemy. But in a world where courts may spy on each other by magic, there is only one way to solemnize this illicit union.

Under the guise of a hunting party, Anne takes her court deep into a deep forest, a strange place dogged with rumours of ancient enchantments; a place where diviners cannot see. She tells the French that she had gone there to hunt unicorns.

It’s a ruse, a lie, a feint.

But when, against all expectations, a unicorn does appear and a wounded stranger stumbles from the trees and falls at her feet, Anne is plunged into a world of enchantment where a doomed sovereign might find the power to change the destiny of her nation - or be lost in the mist for ever.


Praise for The Warm Hands of Ghosts:

‘Darkly beautiful and deeply humane.' Ava Reid, bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

'A book you won't want to let go of.' Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the Outlander series

‘One of the best historical fantasies I've ever read’ Emma Törzs, bestselling author of Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe

'Wonderful storytelling. Inventive, haunting and deeply moving.' Sarah Winman, bestselling author of Still Life

About the author

Born in Austin, Texas, Katherine Arden has always had a taste for wandering. She spent her junior year of high school in Rennes, France.

Following her acceptance to Middlebury College in Vermont, she deferred enrolment for a year in order to live and study in Russia. At Middlebury, she specialized in French and Russian literature, and her studies included sojourns at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow.

After receiving her BA, she moved to Maui, Hawaii and worked every kind of odd job imaginable, from grant writing and guiding horse tours to serving as a personal tour guide. During this time she wrote what became her debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale. After a year on the island, she moved to Briançon, France, and spent nine months teaching. She then returned to Maui, where she began writing The Girl in the Tower, the sequel to her debut, and officially launched her career as an author. Currently she lives in Vermont.

She is the author of the Winternight Trilogy for adults and the Small Spaces Quartet for children. The Warm Hands of Ghosts is her eighth novel.

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